Skeptics and True Believers
by Bethers0921
Summary: Legolas works to rebuild the city of Eryn Silivren, but things get complicated when he becomes too attached to a commoner. Read and review! TRAILER UP ON YOUTUBE! See CH. 2 for the link!
1. Am Din Elenath

*NOTE*

Ferawen is portrayed by Camilla Belle.

**Am Din Elenath**

The sun shone down high from the sky, causing rays of light to dance through the trees, and it was a beautiful sight to behold. It was shining in such a way that it captured the essence and beauty of every single flower, every blade of grass. Yes, it was true. When it came to nature, Ferawen was captivated. Even now, she had seen this same sight a countless amount of times, yet it was still just as amazing as the first time. She was quite positive that even in another thousand years, she would still love it just as much.

With the sun dancing playfully across her pale cheeks and forehead, she took in a deep breath of the fresh air and closed her eyes. She was in her favorite spot of all time, a field of wildflowers and tall grass, and there were trees on all sides, enclosing the meadow. Ferawen was lying down on her back, her arms stretched out beside her, and there was a small smile pulling at the corner of her lips. Rivendell had been a wonderful home to her, but Eryn Silivren was proving to be just as capable of making her feel content.

Lying next to Ferawen's lean body was an old leather-bound book about two hundred pages deep. The parchment in the book was filled with Ferawen's eloquent handwriting. It was filled with different theories, recipes, stories, experiments, and anything else you might imagine. She even had her ink and pen sitting on top of that book, just in case she had wanted to do some extra exploring outside of the meadow. Thus far, she had not even attempted to remove herself from this spot, and having her book with her was proving to be useless. However, she was too caught up in the feeling of the warm sun against her skin to worry about such things.

The slight breeze brushing against the leaves on the trees sounded like the murmur of a soft song, and it seemed to be begging Ferawen to contribute to the melody. Or at least that's what she told herself before she started humming softly with her mouth still closed. She hummed the notes of a song she used to remember her mother singing to her before she died. Oh, it was turning out to be such a lovely day, and Ferawen wished it would never end.

It had been the faint sound of Ferawen's humming that had captured the attention of Legolas Greenleaf, the new prince of Eryn Silivren. Since the war of the rings had ended, elves from all cities had gathered together here at Eryn Silivren under the new rule of Legolas. It had been his title of Prince of Mirkwood that secured his new position. He was a trusted and loyal leader, and he was doing a miraculous job of cleaning up this city. The rubble and ashes from the war were slowly fading, and the city was turning back into the beautiful place it once was.

Ferawen had been so caught up in the moment that she hadn't even heard the approaching footsteps. Once she had her mind focused, she had a hard time paying attention to the real world. Naturally, when she heard the sudden sound of her prince's voice, her eyes snapped open, completely startled by the interruption.

"Forgive my curiosity, but don't you ever tire of getting caught off guard by my presence?" Legolas spoke in a teasing tone as he stood above her, looking down at her figure. The way he was standing was causing a shadow to fall upon Ferawen's face, so she could glance at him easily without having to squint against the bright sunlight. "Perhaps you should pay more attention to your surroundings."

"That is precisely what I am doing." She replied, a smile on her lips to match his own. "I pay attention to the land. Not the inhabitants of it."

The two exchanged a comfortable glance before Ferawen lightly closed her eyes again. The friendship between the two was an interesting one. Since the war of the rings had ended, Ferawen had been somewhat of a walking dictionary to Legolas. Her profession, appropriately enough, was a scholar. She dedicated her existence to learning as much as possible for the sole purpose of being able to teach her findings. Naturally, her knowledge was very useful to the prince. She was a loyal supporter of his, and he admired her impeccable curiosity.

"Am Din Elenath." Legolas spoke into the silence, his eyes wandering carelessly through the meadow.

"Do not speak in riddles, my prince." Ferawen begged as she opened her eyes yet again and looked up at him in curiously. She knew the words he spoke, but she did not know what they meant. Up against the stars, he said.

"I speak no riddles." He reassured her with a nod, quite amused by how curious she was now. "The melody you hum. Am Din Elenath. My father used to have it played for us."

A satisfied smile took over Ferawen's lips as she finally forced herself to sit up from the tall grass. Am Din Elenath was what her mother used to sing to her, and now she finally knew the title. She held out her hand expectantly with a teasing look in her eyes, and Legolas played along well. He reached down and pulled her up to her feet in one, swift movement. It was so quick, in fact, that he had to grab onto her arms to catch her before she just tumbled right back down from the force of it.

"Shall I accompany you home?" He asked as he let his hands fall from her arms back down to his sides. He hadn't even noticed the slight spark that flowed up his arms from the touch.

"And keep you from your royal duties? I would not dream of it." Ferawen had been just as oblivious to the spark as Legolas, perhaps even more so. She bent down to grab her book, pen, and ink before she stood back up straight, facing Legolas. "Farewell, my prince." And with a slight bow of her head, she turned gracefully on her heel and made her way out of the meadow and towards her home.


	2. The Test

*NOTE*

Here is a video I've made of Ferawen/Legolas.

It's on YOUTUBE. Here is the end of the URL

(I don't know why full links don't work on here):

.com/watch?v=4GJ8eT_SkQ0

**The Test**

Ferawen stood in the the empty grand entrance of the palace, anxiously awaiting the Prince. There were two guards in the room with her, one on each side of her, and they were watching her like a hawk. She didn't know whether to be honored or offended. They were either protecting her or afraid that she was going to steal something right out from under their noses. And as for why she was here, she still did not know. The same two guards showed up at her house just after sunrise, telling her that her presence was needed at the palace immediately. Naturally, hearing this unexpected news had her mind racing and her nerves in full swing.

"Is the Prince well?" Ferawen asked the guards, not being able to handle the silence anymore. She would at least like to know whether Legolas was okay or not. Unfortunately, all she heard was the echoing of her own voice in the large room, and neither guard spoke a word. Them not answering her certainly didn't help her nerves at all. She tried to be polite and keep her eyes fixed on the floor below her feet, but a few times, she let her eyes wander. This was only her second time in the palace, and it was just as breathtaking.

"You've arrived." The sound of the Prince's voice had Ferawen coming back down to reality, and she quickly bowed her head before him. She may feel comfortable with him, but she knew better than to forget her etiquette. It would never be acceptable to forget to bow in front of royalty. "I trust my guards have taken good care of you."

"They have, my lord." Ferawen replied, finally lifting her head from the bow so she could look Legolas in the eye. "I pray you tell me what brings me here, fore the suspense is almost too much."

"You've not been informed?" Legolas looked back and forth from guard to guard, wondering why neither of them told her why they forced her out of her house so early in the morning. "Come with me."

Legolas turned on his heel and began to walk down the hallway, and Ferawen wasted no time in hurrying after him. Although, she still really wanted to know what she was doing there, but she kept quiet. She had already made her wishes known, and the Prince would tell her at his leisure. She had no right to demand anything else from him.

"I am afraid that one of our dear friends from Minas Tirith has had the misfortune of being thrown from his horse. Has quite a foul bump on his forehead." Legolas began to explain. Ferawen listened to him, but she raised an eyebrow curiously as he spoke. Why on earth would he need her here because a human fell off a horse? He seemed to be reading her thoughts because he continued quickly. "I remember you've told me recently about a new concoction of yours. The one that makes infectious swellings go down."

Ferawen certainly did not like the sound of this, and she spoke up as her feet continued to carry her along the corridors quickly. "I must say, I am rather uncomfortable with this task you've appointed me. I am no healer, and I have not yet tested it on a human, sire."

"You already know how I feel about the way you've tested it." Legolas told her. It was true, she did know, and she knew that he hated the way she went about testing her products. For several weeks, she would make small cuts on her own skin just so she could try out her different ideas, and see what worked and what didn't. She did not know why it bothered the Prince so much. Elves are fast healers, and small cuts practically did no damage whatsoever. Besides, it was all for scientific purposes! And with that experiment, she found ingredients that would make swelling go down. So really, she was doing Legolas a favor by discovering these things. However, she still did not want to try it on a human. There could be some kind of unforeseen reaction, and she would not know how to fix it. She was not a healer. She was a scholar. Did the Prince not have his own healers here working at the palace?

"My lord, please..." Ferawen began, but she was cut off when Legolas raised up a hand as if to silence her.

"If I remember correctly, you used culumalda leaves."

"You are correct, but may I just..." Once again, she was cut off when Legolas raised a hand before he pushed open big oak doors that led to a very white room where a man was lying in bed, a bandage over his forehead.

"The leaves are on the bedside table. Do what you must...." Legolas flashed her an apologetic look, but even then, he had his mindset. Ferawen knew that, so she didn't even bother trying to protest again.

The task Legolas gave to her was a fairly easy one. The hard part was gathering the culumalda leaves, but considering he had already done that part for her, all she had to do was soak three or four leaves in a bowl of water. Once the leaves started to curl at the edges, that meant that the water was ready to be spread over the cut or infection. She once tried to just rub the leaf over the cut without using the water as a filter, and it just ended up causing an uncomfortable rash. So really, the only reason she knew about this method was trial and error...all on herself.

While Ferawen soaked the leaves, she carried on a conversation with the man she was about to test the method on, and Legolas watched silently from the corner of the room. His eyes first stayed fixed on her fingers as he watched her pull apart the leaves and gently push them into the bowl of water, and as she worked, his eyes trailed to her face. He could not help but smile when he saw that she was still nervous. She had a crease in her forehead from where she was concentrating really hard. However even with her nerves, she still smiled as she talked to the man. The genuine kind of smile where she enjoyed talking to the man, and she listened to him tell her stories about his eldest son.

It really did seem like no time at all before Ferawen was saying her goodbyes to the man who was lying in the bed, and Legolas was walking her back down the long corridor towards the front of the palace.

"There now. Not as hard as you'd imagined, I hope." Legolas commented, a hint of pride in his voice.

"I suppose it's refreshing to know that it works on humans as well." That was the only agreement he was going to get out of her. Legolas knew by now that Ferawen had a stubborn head on her shoulders, and she did not easily admit defeat.

A brief moment of silence passed between the two as they rounded the corner and ended up back in the grand entrance. The two guards were standing in exactly the same position they had been when Legolas and Ferawen first walked back. "See to it that she gets home safely." Legolas told them with a stern nod.

"Aye, my lord." The taller of the two nodded his head in response.

Before Legolas and Ferawen separated from each other, she took a slight bow in front of him. "My lord." She turned lightly on her feet as she started to head towards the palace doors, but the sound Legolas's voice had her stopping and turning to face him again.

"Surely you know about the Tuilérë festival on the next full moon?" It was mostly a rhetorical question. All of Eryn Silivren knew about the festival. It was an annual celebration of the changing of the seasons, and it was highly celebrated amongst the elves.

"I do." Ferawen said simply with a nod. The two guards exchanged glances, waiting for Legolas to continue speaking. To both of the guards, it sounded as if Legolas was about to propose that Ferawen accompany him, which is why they seemed so stunned. A Prince asking a commoner to do anything social was undeniably rare, and for a second, they could not believe their ears.

However, neither Ferawen nor Legolas read it the same way. There was no invitation, just a curious question. "Very well, then. Safe journey home." Legolas said his final goodbye to Ferawen, and she smiled at him graciously before she slipped out of the big doors, the two very confused guards following close behind her.


End file.
